contrary to received wisdom, the anti-vaxx movement draws most of its support from the political right, not hippie liberals

It’s not what the article concludes. This is what the article says:

Overall, then, this evidence suggests that while there may be some broadly leftwing motivations behind vaccine resistance — distrust of corporations that make vaccines, for instance, and fear that their products aren’t safe and that they can’t be trusted — there are also rightwing ones (e.g., distrust of the CDC and government that claims vaccines are safe). And on the national level, these influences may basically be a wash.

Anti-vaccine sentiments are essentially level across the political spectrum, for different motivations perhaps, but no one political group has the lion’s share.

What they share in common is a belief in conspiracy theories, and Trump has happily scratched that itch on many such subjects for years now.

When my brother-in-law became a Member of Parliament here in Britain, I thought to myself that I could not imagine having a worse job. Having to talk to people who wanted your support, wanted you to agree with them, make their case… But you’d have reasons why you got into politics that would, almost by definition, clash with those people’s strongly-held views. Life would be spent having to disagree and basically fight with people to get the society you wanted.

But then I realised - what if a politician HAD no principles? What if they simply agreed with everyone if they came to you for support? And if you didn’t uphold everyone’s cause, you simply pretended as if you had, or hoped that they’d forget, or blame somebody else for not being able to do what they wanted. Or something like that to get them off your back. And the only people you would oppose would be those who hadn’t held out the possibility of voting for you in return for your support. Simple!

And now we have that politician. Trump’s policy is to agree with basically anyone who petitions him about anything. Think bank robbers get harsh sentences? Tell it to Trump and come away with a warm glow. Next up, people who park in the wrong place should get life in prison. Good idea, says Trump - and tweets about that.

So anti-vaxx, the KKK, NRA all get lots of time from Mr Trump. But so do Pro Choice activists, welfare workers and trades union bosses. Why not? Just make them all happy. Make them all vote for you.

So there is at least a possibility that Trump will completely ignore and anti-vaxxers once they’ve served their purpose. Nobody knows what he really thinks, what his actual policies are or might be. He’s a sort of anti-politician.

With this selfless act of service, in not only clarifying an blurb-changing point, but also pull-quoting an illuminating passage, thereby saving countless others from the same task, you are now inducted into Her Majesty’s “Read the fucking Article Force!” Your honorary badge is below:

this might seem sarcastic, but it’s totally not, I actually wish this were a discourse badge we could nominate each other for…

That’s pretty much Trump’s pitch, yeah – I mean, that’s what “populism” is – but it’s worth noting that according to the linked article, unlike most of the batshit positions Trump has shruggingly endorsed, he really does appear to support anti-vaxx shitwits. It seems he’s repeatedly brought it up without prompting, over a long period of time.

As to whether it’s a “left” or “right” position, those terms aren’t very useful with this sort of thing. It’s often pointed out that Trump’s sort of demagoguery is not “conservative” or “right-wing” in the normal sense, because it’s not a theory of policy or governance at all; it’s a social disease phenomenon that immolates normal politics. It only tends to erupt from the right because, in common with normal conservatism, it is fascinated by Power.